


Just Curious

by hypernomad



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-23 08:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/924406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypernomad/pseuds/hypernomad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ian's always been more than a little bit curious about the Milkovich family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Curious

"So how many brothers and sisters and shit do you actually have?" Ian asked one afternoon. He was laying on his stomach and flicking through a magazine called  _Macho_ while Mickey leaned against the wall and lifted a weight halfheartedly. 

”Why’d you wanna know?” He asked around a cigarette, which he plucked from his mouth and passed to Ian after a moment. 

"Just curious," Ian replied, taking the cigarette before sucking a deep drag out of it and savouring the taste of Mickey’s mouth that lingered on the end. 

Mickey sighed and leaned back against the rough concrete wall behind him. “Well, there’s Mandy, obviously. Then there’s Iggy, Joey, Jamie, Tony… and I have a half-sister who lives in Milwaukee or some shit, I can’t remember.” 

Ian nodded idly and took another drag before passing the cigarette back to Mickey. “Big family then.” He said after a moment. 

Mickey nodded and passed the weight to his left arm now, cigarette lodged between his lips. “Ain’t much bigger than your family though.” He said with a smirk.

Ian was hardly paying attention to the porno mag in front of him anymore, and was instead concentrating on Mickey’s muscles flexing. “Guess not.” He said. Then, after another moment, asked, “Any aunts or uncles?” 

Mickey laughed and passed the cigarette back to Ian. “Loads, man. Both sides.” 

"What about your mother?" Ian asked, not really thinking it through. When Mickey glanced over at him, he apologised and looked back down at the magazine.

"S’alright," Mickey mumbled after a moment, and passed the cigarette back to Ian. It was silent for a few more moments, and Ian kicked himself internally for turning the mood sour. Mickey dropped the dumbbell on the concrete ground with a gentle clunk.

"She died of a drug overdose." Mickey finally said after a moment, and there was something heavy in his voice despite the uncharacteristic quietness of it. 

Ian nodded and passed the cigarette back to the other man. “I’m sorry.” He said softly.

"Mandy and me were fighting on our way home from school like we used to, and-" Mickey began, and a misty look came over his eyes as he glanced away, not wanting to look at the other man for fear he would see the emotion there. "Well, you know how it is with smack. You’ve seen it in the movies right? She was just on the couch with the thing strapped around her arm and whatever." He explained, his voice a little lighter. 

"Jesus." Ian replied, looking up at the older man with a sympathetic look. "How old were you?" He asked after a moment. 

"Nearly ten. Mandy was eight." Mickey replied, picking up his nearly empty beer can and taking a deep swig. 

Ian could almost imagine it now, in his head. Mickey probably made Mandy go wait in his bedroom or something while he called an ambulance. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful that must have been. He could remember how he’d felt when Monica had slit her wrists last Thanksgiving. How painful it had been, not only for himself, but for Carl and Debbie to see that. He wanted to comfort Mickey in some way, but he knew that it probably wouldn’t help. It’d already happened. He couldn’t save him from the past.

"My mom slit her wrists open on Thanksgiving a few years back." He said a little distantly.

"What?" Mickey said, turning to look at him sharply.

Blinking, Ian looked up at him. “She went into one of her low moods. We were sitting at the table and she just went out into the kitchen and slit her wrists open.” He explained. 

"Fuck, man." Mickey said, frowning. "Why’d she do it?" He asked.

"She’s Bipolar." Ian answered.

Mickey nodded, but something told Ian that he had no idea what he was talking about.

"It’s when they have really extreme mood swings, kinda." He explained. "Like… she’ll be in this ridiculously happy good mood for a while, and then she’ll swing right into suicidal depression… and when she’s in those moods, she gets really impulsive. She tried to get me to enlist when she was in her high mood." 

Mickey frowned. “That’s fucked up, man.” He said. 

Ian gave him an emotionless smile, and nodded. “Yeah.” He said. 

"So where’s she buried?" Mickey asked after a moment.

Ian blinked. “She’s not dead, dude.” He laughed. “Nah, nah, she survived. But they put her in a mental hospital and she got out of there somehow.” 

"Oh." Mickey said, looking away. 

"I know it’s not the same… I don’t know why I brought it up." Ian said after a minute.

"S’alright." Mickey said casually, lighting up another cigarette.

It was quiet for a few minutes more, and then Mickey spoke up again. “So there’s Lip, your older sister, that kid with hair like yours, the one who always shaves his head and the black kid.” 

Ian smiled. Apparently Mickey paid more attention to him than he realised. “Yep.” He said. “My older sister is Fiona, the other redhead is Debbie, the shaven headed kid is Carl and the youngest is Liam.”

Mickey snorted. “Good to know.” He said sarcastically. 

Ian laughed and turned the page of the magazine. 

"So any aunts or uncles?" Mickey asked after a moment, echoing what Ian had asked earlier.

Glancing up at him, Ian smiled. “Well, I don’t know much about Monica. But as for my dad… there’s Ginger - she was buried in the back yard up until a little while ago - Wyatt, Jerry and, uh,” he breathed a laugh, “Frank.” 

"Frank?" Mickey asked, his face lighting up a little in confusion. "What the fuck?" 

"Yeah." Ian replied. "Monica fucked Frank’s brother Clayton. Apparently Frank’s not my actual dad. Thankfully." 

Mickey laughed. “I think your family is more fucked up than mine, Gallagher.” He said, relaxing a little. 

"Yep." Ian said, smiling. 

The equilibrium had shifted again, and the quiet peace that they’d been sitting in before returned. A few minutes later, Mickey had lifted the weight and started doing another set. 

"Hn," Ian groaned with a smirk. "Hey, Mick, check this out." He said, plucking the cigarette out from between his lips and picking the magazine up to show the older man an image of two men in an obscene position spread out over two pages. "You like?" He asked with a smirk.

Mickey looked at it with a lurid grin before taking the magazine and holding it open with one hand. “Fuck, yeah.” He said after a moment. “We gotta try that out.” 

Ian scoffed and smiled. “I’m not a fucking Olympic gymnast, Mick.” He said with a laugh, snatching the magazine back. “And I don’t think your legs can bend that way. It looks kinda photoshopped…”

"Better start stretching then, shithead," he replied with an eyebrow raised suggestively. 

Ian shook his head and watched Mickey contort himself into a weird ‘crab’ position with a determined look on his face for the next few hours.


End file.
